Wednesday, May 23, 2007

This is some odd behavior, but it is pretty amusing. Brilliant as a work of social commentary . . . but a little scary too.

Hasan Elahi whips out his Samsung Pocket PC phone and shows me how he's keeping himself out of Guantanamo. He swivels the camera lens around and snaps a picture of the Manhattan Starbucks where we're dinking coffee. Then he squints and pecks at the phone's touchscreen. "OK! It's uploading now," says the cheery, 35-year-old artist and Rutgers professor, whose bleached-blond hair complements his fluorescent-green pants. "It'll go public in a few seconds. "Sure enough, a moment later the shot appears on the front page of his Web site, TrackingTransience.net.

There are already tons of pictures there. Elahi will post about a hundred today — the rooms he sat in, the food he ate, the coffees he ordered. Poke around his site and you'll find more than 20,000 images stretching back three years. Elahi has documented nearly every waking hour of his life during that time. He posts copies of every debit card transaction, so you can see what he bought, where, and when. A GPS device in his pocket reports his real-time physical location on a map .

Elahi's site is the perfect alibi. Or an audacious art project. Or both. The Bangladeshi-born American says the US government mistakenly listed him on its terrorist watch list — and once you're on, it's hard to get off. To convince the Feds of his innocence, Elahi has made his life an open book. Whenever they want, officials can go to his site and see where he is and what he's doing. Indeed, his server logs show hits from the

Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Office of the President, among others.

America's Public Schools not preparing our kids for College Level Drinking

It's only a couple of pages, but it's a whole bunch of passive-agressive notes that people leave. Very entertaining - if too brief. Here's an example that is of the moderately funny variety. There are funnier ones, but I was too lazy to find one of those.

Here's another case that shows Justice Scalia was correct when he further eviscerated the 4th Amendment (specifically the exclusionary rule) by claiming that police officers are more professional these days.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A porn star claims a state trooper who stopped her on a highway let drug charges slide in exchange for oral sex. And she says she's got proof — the trooper's own video images of the roadside tryst.

The trooper, James Randy Moss, declined to comment Tuesday. Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning confirmed investigators have interviewed the porn star, who is identified on a citation by her real name, Justis Richert.

Here's the best part:

Cummings blames the officer for making trouble for himself.

"This police officer went ahead and told (all) of his co-workers, other police officers, and was bragging about it," she wrote. "He isn't in trouble because of the act itself, but that he chose to let it happen while he was on duty. There was no bribing, no (coercing) or convincing."

Monday, May 21, 2007

Rathergate... we all remember it. You think those dumb bastards at NBC would have learned their lesson. While this story isn't as big politically as Dan Rather feeding us his own reality, its a more dangerous abuse of integrity.

Dragons Skin is a new type of body armer being developed by a private US contractor. What makes it different is that it consists of a series of overlapping "scales" much like a Dragons Skin or medieval scale mail. In the past year the manufacturer of Dragons Skin have spread a lot of stories around about how much more effect it is over the body armor currently being used by US serviceman and has been in the news several times. These stories prompted a military ban on soldiers using privately purchased Dragon Skin and public outcry to arm our soldiers with the very best.

The truth is that the stuff doesn't work and it's too freaking heavy.

Enter NBC.

NBC for some reason thought they would let the American people weigh in on the decision making process and put the story on national TV. Of coarse they rigged the tests. Didn't tell you the whole story. NBC also lied outright.

Does NBC hate the American serviceman that much? Read the story at Defense Tech.

Friday, May 18, 2007

It seems you can't get firework ingredients anymore from this company. The link above shows how idiotic this is - even federally licensed dealers can't get these things. Here's the article about the case:

A federal judge in Boise has ruled in favor of the government in a lawsuit against an Internet retailer that sold ingredients used to make illegal fireworks.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has ordered Firefox Enterprises Inc., of Pocatello, to stop selling chemicals, tubes, end caps and fuses used in M-80s, quarter sticks and other illegal fireworks.

"This court ruling is a victory for consumer safety," Nancy Nord, acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday in a news release. "There are far too many injuries and deaths from the manufacture and use of illegal fireworks. By taking strong action against individuals and companies that sell chemicals and components to make these dangerous devices, CPSC can stop illegal fireworks from being made and keep consumers safe."

The commission said its investigation found that Firefox sold and shipped fireworks components in hundreds of transactions between November 1999 and May 2005. Winmill ruled that Firefox's packaging and shipping of chemicals violated the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Materials Regulations.

Winmill granted summary judgment in favor of the government in December and made his order permanent Monday. He also imposed shipping and record keeping requirements and authorized the commission to make surprise inspections of Firefox.

Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer-product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually, the agency said.

First, I'm sick of how legislators dismiss the slippery slope idea when it comes to passing legislation to protect people, while in the same breath banning this product or that one because "it could be possibly maybe used in some negative fashion." Hell, fire takes oxygen to burn, when is Congress or some dumbass court going to ban air?

Also look at the last weasely qote above (I put it in italics for you). What does that have to do with the issue at hand? Nothing. I mean, if you damage your house because your washing machine overflowed, that's included in that number. How stupid does the government think we are? Oh . . . I forgot . . . they think we're very stupid . . . because we keep letting them get away with this crap.

This just confirms one of my theories: nothing good ever comes out of Boise.

Kid H.

P.S. If they're just worried about the wrong people getting their hands on this stuff, way to drive those people underground and make them more difficult to trace. Good job guys. Keep up the mediocre to below average work.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

LA JOLLA, CA—Since several shrewd investments in software start-ups pushed his net worth over the $1 billion mark last fall, Mark Stern has been attempting to cultivate eccentricities commensurate with his new wealth, the venture capitalist said Monday.

Stern prepares to fly his newly completed rocket to a movie premiere 100 miles away in Hollywood, via the moon.

"When you have $975 million, you're just like everyone else," said Stern, 41, from the bow of Excelsior, a 58-person canoe that he commissioned for a world-record paddle around the world. "But I'm a billionaire now. People expect me to use my money to feed my ego to the point of borderline insanity."

I'm pretty certain this is how I would react.

"I started doing stuff like recoiling from shaking people's hands, smelling everything I picked up, and referring to myself as 'the anointed one,'" Stern said. "Nothing too out-there or grandiose, just some basic weirdness to keep up appearances while I tried to come up with the really original oddities."

"I did retain some of the more esoteric affectations, though," added Stern, brandishing a pure ivory cane topped with a crystal sphere containing a lock of his recently deceased mother's hair.

Though he now houses five of the world's 40 remaining albino alligators in his custom-made lucite dining room table, Stern had until recently been noted for his frugal tastes.

"Mark drove a 1999 Toyota Corolla, and he used to pride himself on shopping at the Men's Wearhouse even though he could afford much nicer things," longtime friend Thomas Bowen said. "Now he only wears jumpsuits made of some space-age micro- fiber paper that he incinerates after one use, and all I ever hear about is his hydrogen- powered rocket sled that he's taking to Antarctica to break the sound barrier or something."

Here is an article about how to fail a field sobriety test - the truth is, it is not that hard. My reading of the article is that under absolutely optimal conditions, field sobriety tests are wrong almost a third of the time, that under less than optimal conditions, they are wrong 46% of the time, and that ". . . field sobriety tests are irrelevant and, in fact, designed for failure."

Here is an excerpt, but read the whole thing:

Roadside field sobriety tests (“FSTs”) are commonly used by police officers in DUI investigations to determine whether a driver is under the influence of alcohol. Typically, they consist of a battery of 3-5 excercises, such as walk-and turn, one-leg stand, “nystagmus” (“follow the pencil with your eyes”), finger-to-nose, alphabet recitation, “Rohmberg” (eyes-closed-position-of-attention), etc. The officer may subjectively decide whether the individual “failed”, or he may decide after applying recent federal “standardized” scoring.

These DUI tests have an aura of scientific credibility. Unfortunately, however, they have no real basis in science and are almost useless in a drunk driving case. First, as any traffic officer or DUI attorney knows, the decision to arrest is made at the driver’s window; the FSTs given supposedly to determine probable cause to arrest are actually for the purpose of gathering evidence. Second, since the officer has already made up his mind, his subjective decision as to whether a person passed or failed field sobriety tests is suspect: as with any human, he will “see” what he expects to see. Third, the conditions under which the field sboriety tests are taken almost guarantee failure: usually late at night, possibly cold, along a graveled or sloped roadside, with bright headlights from passing cars (setting up wind waves), the officer’s flashlight and patrol car’s strobe and headlights providing the lighting — and given to a person who is nervous, frightened and completely unfamiliar with the tests.

*** The machine measures alcohol on the breath, and an internal computer then multiplies the reading 2100 times to get a reading of alcohol in the blood. This is because the amount of alcohol in the blood is greatly reduced as it crosses from the blood into the alveolar sacs of the lungs and into the breath; the average person has 2100 times more alcohol in his blood than in his breath (this varies widely among individuals, however, and is another inherent defect in the machines).

I'm stealing this post in its entirety from the awesome blog Nobody's business. Just wanted you all to see it before you decide to vote for Rudy in any upcoming election or primary.

Every petty dictator should have these Giuliani quotes embroidered on a nice decorative pillow. And every lover of liberty should remind him- or herself that these words were not lifted from Orwell's 1984, but were uttered in all apparent seriousness by a man who is a top contender for the Republican nomination.

"Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."

He might have left it at, stopping short of turning an already dicey sentiment into something certifiably disgusting, but no:

Just thought you guys should know that real freedom is giving up liberty to the government - at least according to Giuliani. Also, if everyone would please compare Rudy's mayoral approval ratings in New York prior to 911 and post 911, that might show you something. Essentially, he benefitted from the tragedy by crying at the right times and calling the right people heroes. I think there are a whole lot of people who could have done that, yet somehow this jerk-off is now one of the leading candidates for the presidency.

Wow. If the city council had only banned idiots first, then we'd never have fun legislation like this.

The Montgomery County Council unanimously approved a ban on partially hydrogenated oils in restaurants, supermarket bakeries and delis yesterday, becoming the first county in the nation to restrict artery-clogging trans fats.

The pride factor of being the first county to ban transfats is probably causing dancing in the streets down in Rockville.

The Montgomery regulation could have a broader reach because of the county's sweeping definition of what it means to be in the business of serving food. Religious establishments, schools and grocery store salad bars are subject to the county's regulation.

Sweet, there goes your local bake sales to raise money. Bye bye scrumptious church dinners. Seriously, how is this supposed to be a real benefit to us? Regular fats, for lack of a better term, aren't much healthier (if at all) than transfats - and transfats might taste better (depending on your personal tastes). Don't think about that question too hard, the government is here to provide us the answer.

Council member Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large), the bill's chief sponsor, said she thinks the food industry will be able to adjust. Some Montgomery establishments, such as the Silver Diner and Marriott Corp., stopped using trans fats voluntarily.

"The goal is to protect the public health," she said. "People want to know what they are eating."

What a crock! People probably do want to know what they're eating Duchy (and isn't that name rife with irony). However, you idiots are telling people that it doesn't matter if they know what they're eating - they still can't have it.

Gene Wilkes, owner of Tastee Diners in Bethesda and Silver Spring, said the ban will force him to eliminate certain items, such as lemon meringue pie and chocolate cream pie, which he buys from a supplier. His popular biscuits, made in bulk at the diners from a General Mills mix that contains trans fats, will be a no-no. He said he'll begin making them from scratch, most likely.

Wilkes said he has begun to use healthier oil for deep-frying and grilling. And soon, butter, not less costly margarine, will be on the hundreds of pieces of toast his 24-hour establishments serve each day. But he is annoyed about the treatment of packaged foods.

Wow, it's not like butter is a super-healthy alternative. Plus, this ban eliminates two awesome pies. "Restaurateurs say that it could be difficult for them to find healthy replacements for trans fatty oils and that they might have to use artery-clogging palm and coconut oils or butter."

Listen folks, it isn't about making us more healthy. It isn't about junk science or anything like that. It's about local legislators that must appear to be doing something, anything, to justify their continued existence. When these guys run out of actual important issues to deal with, or they can't find the answer, they always, always, always end up doing something idiotic either for the general well-being of the public (like it or not), or for the children.

Let's start looking at this type of legislation for what it is. It isn't just authoritarianism or nanny-statism (though it is those things). It is something that verges on communism. The ultimate goal is to make everyone the same, only they can't call it communism or even socialism, so they just keep eliminating all our choices and our liberties until eventually the choices we get to make are the same exact choices everyone gets to make . . . and those aren't really choices at all.

You think I'm kidding or maybe going overboard? Well, now you can't have transfats or foie-gras. You can't buy toilets that really work anymore, washing machines are 35% more efficient and who knows how much less effective, CAFE standards mean you can't really get the car you might want, soon you won't be able to buy lightbulbs that don't give you headaches, you can't use ephedra to lose weight (or use in tea like the Mormons), you can't smoke, you can't drink the liquor you want in the way you want, you can't build many types of model rockets, you can't really own and carry a gun. Seriously, I could go on all day. I'll say this, unless you're Bill Gates or Donald Trump, etc., I'm willing to bet that your house isn't big enough to store the entire Code of Federal Regulations - then add in the state and local stuff, yet somehow, you're supposed to know all this stuff and abide by it. And, lest you forget, those codes ain't getting any smaller.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The city of Boston finally dropped charges against the two guys who put up street art promoting the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.

Boston overreacted in order to compete with New York as a "valid" city, worthy of terroristic threats. Then they got mad because their struggle for attention was mercilessly mocked. Then they got TBS to pay them money to avoid some kind of charges (which is extortion when it's anyone but the government doing it).

Interesting article on some of the failures of the Patriot Act, which I've criticized from day one. I know 911 was a terrible event, and I was all for exacting retribution, but it was painfully obvious that the PATRIOT Act was a naked power grab by the government. Anyway, there were some who criticized it initially and discussed potential abuses. Here is an excerpt from a longer article assessing some of the initial criticisms (they were right).

In March 2007, FBI Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report that undermined that argument. It turned out the bureau had underreported the number of requests for National Security Letters, had issued letters before exhausting other options, and had issued them to Americans who were not the targets of ongoing investigations. In short, the FBI had abused its new powers.

“That vindicated my concerns over that provision of the PATRIOT Act,” says Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican who had joined Sununu and most Democrats in the 2005 filibuster. “Not because I have reason to believe that FBI agents were acting with ill intent, but it does show that we shouldn’t create shortcuts when it comes to civil rights. Mistakes will, and did, happen.”

That scandal was soon chased from the headlines by something even more incendiary: The White House had fired eight competent U.S. attorneys for, among other things, not working hard enough to prosecute Democrats. Washington State’s John McKay hadn’t dug into claims of Democratic voter fraud in a governor’s race; New Mexico’s David Iglesias, the model for Tom Cruise’s character in A Few Good Men, wasn’t willing to rush an indictment against a Democratic state senator before an election. And the power that let the president replace them with cronies was enshrined in the PATRIOT Act.

Presidents had always set up a revolving door for the U.S. attorneys at the starts of their terms, and they had the right to shuffle them out and nominate new blood at any time. But PATRIOT effectively eliminated Congress’ role in approving those replacements, by removing restrictions on the length of service for interim U.S. attorneys and allowed them to serve indefinitely without confirmation by the Senate. As first liberals, then conservatives started calling for the attorney general to fall on his sword, the Senate voted to strip the president of that power.

It took its time, but the political class has finally lost confidence in its belief that the government had done the right things to secure America after 9/11. As scandal piled on top of scandal, it became harder, then impossible, to deny that the powers granted to the executive could be abused by some corrupt actors or by agencies enamored of their own secrecy.

This impacts the way Washingtonians play out the decade’s big hypothetical scenario: What happens if we get hit again? How will politics change after another 9/11? The thinking had been that politics would pivot right back to the frenzied “whatever my government wants” attitude of 2001. But the validation of civil libertarians’ fears has changed all that.

“This is a case where I can say ‘I was right all along,’ ” says Sununu. “But I am not happy about it.”

Thursday, May 10, 2007

ROCHESTER — A 48-year-old Chestnut Street man was arrested early this morning for wiretapping for allegedly recording police while they were investigating him for driving while intoxicated.

Police say they were patrolling the downtown area at 2:54 a.m. when they discovered Christopher A. Power of 52 Chestnut St. sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle with its motor running at the Rochester Common.

After speaking with Power, police began investigating him for driving while intoxicated and arrested him. During the arrest an audio recording device was discovered.

"During a search after the arrest an audio recorder was discovered on the driver's seat cushion," Capt. Paul Callaghan said. "The officer noticed that the recorder was recording."

Power was charged with driving while intoxicated and wiretapping, which is a Class B felony.

Why is this a crime? To steal a line from the police themselves. If you have nothing to hide, why do you care if we record the stop. Hell, they record it. Are they worried that they'll get caught tampering with evidence? I can only guess Yes.

I wonder how much time, effort and stress this is going to cost him. Not to mention the legal fees, impound fees and other associated idiocy that

Errett readily agreed to take the breathalyzer test, maintaining his innocence. He told the officer he had been confused and nervous when taking the field sobriety test.

When he took the test, the result came back with all zeros. He had no alcohol in his system.

“The legislature, the courts and law enforcement officers all want people to take a breath test when requested by law enforcement. Fair enough,” Linehan said. “But why take the test if being completely innocent is no defense against being arrested for a crime you didn’t commit? If I get a call from a potential client at 3 a.m. don’t I have to tell him, ‘Yeah you could take the test, but even if you test .000, you will still be arrested?’ ”

Errett was given the ticket, had to put up a $1,000 bond, pay to get his car out of the impound lot and hire an attorney with his trial scheduled for later this month.

“Coming on the heals of the sanctions against Prosecutor Attorney Mike Nifong in the Duke rape case, it is my hope that we have reached a point where it is no longer acceptable for the state to continue to prosecute innocent people. There should be some sanction for arresting someone the officer should reasonably know to be innocent,” Linehan said.

“In this case the officer had a scientific test, a scientific test which officers ask juries to believe everyday, which told the officer that my client was innocent,” Linehan said.

“And even with the knowledge that my client was innocent, he was still charged. The state should be held accountable for that. My client has been unfairly embarrassed and has had to expend attorney fees for a crime he didn’t commit. At an absolute minimum he is owed an apology and the community is owed an explanation as to why our officers are arresting people they know to be innocent.”

Linehan said with the trial pending, he has asked his client not to speak to the media.

The police department declined to comment and referred all questions to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Vandervoort said after they have reviewed the case, it may still go to trial, or the charges may be dropped or altered.

Hey, but it's only a couple of bad apples, right. Seriously, what's up with cops.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I know no one really reads this site. I know I'm not really doing anything by posting here, BUT it makes me feel that way (maybe I am a liberal after all).... but I need to let someone, anyone else know about this disgusting shit the government is doing to us...

A kid builds a 3d map of his school for a 3d game. Teachers find out. Tell the FUCKING POLICE. They arrest him. The find a WEAPON in his house... A FUCKING HAMMER.... Then they ship him off to a FUCKING RE-EDUCATION CAMP!!!!!

Members of the area Chinese community have rallied behind a Clements High School senior who was removed from the campus and sent to M.R. Wood Alternative Education Center after parents complained he'd created a computer game map of Clements.

About 70 people attended the Fort Bend Independent School District's April 23 meeting to show support for the Clements senior and his mother, Jean Lin, who spoke to FBISD Board trustees in a closed session.

While an agenda document does not specify details, the board is holding a special meeting tonight to address the boy's actions and the discipline that was meted out as a result, sources close to the matter say. The boy's name was not identified last week, and the district has declined to discuss his case.

Richard Chen, president of the Fort Bend Chinese-American Voters League and a acquaintance of the boy's family, said he is a talented student who enjoys computer games and learned how to create maps (also sometimes known as "mods"), which provide new environments in which games may be played.

The map the boy designed mimicked Clements High School. And, sources said, it was uploaded either to the boy's home computer or to a computer server where he and his friends could access and play on it. Two parents apparently learned from their children about the existence of the game, and complained to FBISD administrators, who investigated.

"They arrested him," Chen said of FBISD police, "and also went to the house to search." The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy's room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn't in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon.

"They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.

Sources said that although no charges were filed against the boy, he was removed from Clements, sent to the district's alternate education school and won't be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies with classmates.

"All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play," Chen said. "The mother thinks this is too harsh."

FBISD officials declined to comment on the matter Monday. "Our challenge is, people in the community have freedom of speech and can say what they want, but we have laws" covering privacy issues, especially involving minors, that the district has to respect, said spokeswoman Nancy Porter.

Speakers at the FBISD Board's April 23 meeting alluded to the Clements senior's punishment, and drew a connection to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in which a Korean student shot and killed 32 people.

The Asian community "faces new pressures" as a result of the shootings, William Sun told board members. "We urge the school and community not to label our Asian students as terrorists."

"We should teach our children not to judge others harshly" and not to target people as being a threat because of their race, said Peter Woo, adding that the school district should lead the way in such efforts.

But Chen said Monday he and other community members don't consider FBISD's actions in the case to be racially motivated, and don't think they blew the incident out of proportion.

"They all think the principal has to do something - but how much? We do understand with the Virginia Tech incident...something has to be done," Chen said. "Someone just made a mistake, and we think the principal should understand that."